Monday, October 08, 2007

Lanier's Birthday

On Saturday, September 29, we celebrated Lanier's 26th birthday. The actual birth day was 09/30. Lanier isn't much on celebrations or crowds, but since I was in Tennessee on his last birthday and missed it, I wanted to make up for it this year.

We asked Abby, a friend, to make the cake. I'm not keen on red velvet, but Ab's cake was AMAZING! The only candle we could find was a number 9 candle from somebody's birthday, but it did the job. Sophie tried to help blow it out.Lanier did the typical Mexican thing where you smash your face in the cake (or someone does it for you?). Pictured below, you see his favorite gift: a fake parrot Hannah found in the costume section at WalMart. He wants to be a pirate for Halloween and what self-respecting pirate stumps around without a parrot? Izzy is too small for the job and just looks ridiculous perched on his shoulder...Of course, no birthday party would be complete without a pinata! It was literally a smashing success. Hannah, Bess and I filled Superman with around 4 lbs. of candy the day before and hid him in Bess's bedroom. Sophie discovered him accidentally and played with him a little before we shushed her and hid him again. Thus it followed that poor Sophie, who had never seen a pinata before, was a little freaked out when we started bashing poor Superman with a stick. When candy started leaking out, she was mildly consoled.

Pictured below: Zach and Cheri, Lanier, Bess and Hannah and Jona.Here's Bess taking her turn. She nearly hit me with the stick.

So, Lanier had a very happy 26th birthday with family and friends.

This past weekend I went to Austin for my weekly Farsi (Persian) lesson. Hannah got her Progress Report from school and had all A's. She's enjoying learning how to play guitar and really has a knack for it.The Abstinence Rally we attended on Saturday night was awesome! Check out www.silverringthing.com for more information--these guys did a fantastic job!! Over 700 junior and senior high kids came from our area and listened to skits, testimonies, videos and the founder of the ministry. While the main guy shared a brief personal testimony of salvation and explained the plan of salvation, I was blown away by the absolute SILENCE in the auditorium. Those kids were really listening! Our Student Ministries Pastor, Ryan Koenig, reported next morning at church that 96 kids responded to the altar call and received salvation! (photo above) Wow!!

So, it was a good weekend! Hannah and I enjoyed the rally together and she had fun with Lanier and Bess while I was up in Austin. And we've found a killer Mexican restaurant in town called "Daniel's." Their tacos al pastor are just like the ones I've had in Cd. Valles! I'm in heaven!